World Famous Comics: Ultimate X-Men, Vol. 19: Absolute Power (v. 19)
Ultimate X-Men, Vol. 19: Absolute Power (v. 19)
By: Aron Coleite Publisher: Marvel Comics Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Marvel Comics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 112 Publication Date: November 19, 2008
Product Description: New scribe Aron Coleite jumps aboard, fresh from his stint as one of the top writers on the hit NBC show Heroes! Regrouping after the devastating battle against Apocalypse, the X-Men encounter a new adversary which seems unstoppable. To fight it, the young mutants must ask themselves: How far are they willing to go and what are they willing to take to raise their game? The answer will test the bonds and shake the team to its very core. Collects Ultimate X-Men #94-97.
Better than expected I had really low expectations for this book going in, based on what I had read on amazon by people who are a lot more qualified to write X-Men reviews than I. I thought it was a good story line. I like the attempt to make the story tie into current issues (steroid use, homosexuality, etc) I thought the art looked a lot tighter than it did for the past couple of volumes. It had some of my favorite X-Men in it: Rogue, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Colusses, Wolverine, Jean Gray, and Storm. I also liked seeing the Alpha Flight cameo.
Couple of spoilers and thoughts here:
*Colossus has always been one of my fav's in the X-Men universe. I don't like the drastic changes the Ultimate Universe has made to his character. It just doesn't work. Take that how you want.
* I like the power trip Cyclops is on. It was cool to see the writers expand on his power potential,and overcome some of his emotional scars.
*There was a hint somewhere that Rogue knew Vindicator (but that was never expanded on). Will we have closure on that?
*I'm glad Jean Gray is still around. It seems like Marvel loves to kill her off in every X-Men title for the sake of the Phoenix story arc. I'm glad Ultimate Universe is keeping her around with Phoenix powers, etc. I love the story behind the phoenix in this line.
*Professor X abusing Wolverine to test his hormones/drug potential. Not buying that either. Goes against Prof. X.'s moral character.
*Angel growing and Eagles head while taking steroids? Really? again, not buying it. They should have had him evolve into arhangle instead. Boom, it's that easy.
Meh. All those negative one-star reviews posted before this one? They're correct. This story is is based on a drug that doesn't make sense, it's uneven on character development (which is also kept to a minimum, making a lot of the new characters we meet boring and most battle scenes nonsensical), and wipes away previous plot lines without enough explanation.
The idea that Colossus has been a junkie since we've met him doesn't work for several reasons: he hasn't been showing any signs of supplemental superpowers, which everyone else who took the drug did; the drug addled his brain in this story, but until now he's acted perfectly lucid; the story clearly says he started taking the drug for the strength to control his powers, but he's had that control on his own for a long time...etc. Also, the plot is very rushed, going from scene to scene with a rapidity that made the story seem even shorter than it really was. Combined with that lack of character development, I was left thinking, "That's it?" at the end.
However, there were a few positives. The art was very good, clear and simple with great facial expressions (something a lot of superhero artists have trouble with) and beautiful covers. Also, the focus on Colossus--both his past with his family and his current romance with Northstar--are welcome, given how overlooked he often has been. Cyclops also gets a subplot where we see his vaunted control snap, an interesting development to watch.
Unfortunately, his confrontation with Jean is, like this story overall, much too rushed. The way it was wrapped up reminded me of bad sitcom writing, like Coleite had been ordered to wrap the plot up by the end of the issue even if it didn't make sense yet. Too bad.
There's a big bonus for everyone interested in comics at the end, though. The entire script of issue 94 is printed, letting us see the first stage of a comic being made. For anyone who wants to go into the business, or who is just curious about how Marvel books are written, it's a great extra.
Mind-numbingly bad Remember when the Ultimate universe was actually a good idea? Remember when Mark Millar launched Ultimate X-Men and actually took the title and characters in new and powerful directions? Those days have been long gone, and ever since Millar took off from the title, Ultimate X-Men has declined in quality ever so steadily. After Robert Kirkman's disappointing run on the title, Heroes writer Aron Coleite gets the scribe duties with Absolute Power, which turns the whole title into nothing more than a caricature of itself. Characters such as Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and even Professor Xavier are nothing like what we have seen before, and the story here as a whole basically negates anything that's come before as well. Not even Mark Brooks' artwork can save this mind-numbingly bad tale. It's no wonder that Marvel is canning Ultimate X-Men with Ultimatum on the horizon (which in truth, isn't much better than what you'll read here, but I digress), and it's just a shame that such a once promising title has wound up like this. Avoid.
Ruins everything Remember when the Ultimate universe was cool? When they tried to take a more "realistic" view on things. do a slow burn and offer unique points of view on charachters and events from the main univers? yeah me too. unfourtunately, this TBP is the sign of the apocalypse to the Ultimate Universe and what its becomming (not the charachter). Story was terrible. made no sense, it was all about "hotshotting" events for the purpose of shock and buzz. Hopefully they find a way to retcon out of this. First start by firing the writter. Stick him on one of the milion mainstream X Books. It was a perfect story for that, not for Ultimate universe. A major disapointment. a definite "jump the shark" moment for Ultimate X-Men.
Terrible This was the most non linear story line ever. This entire book was just pointless. One minute everyone is pissed only to be the best of friends a second later. The most worthless trade in the series to date. Feel free to skip it, your not missing anything.
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